Page 32 of Ever Dark Academy, Vol. 7

Tanis froze and spun towards her. “Things are wonderful now!”

That stung. But Fiona reminded herself that Tanis didn’t know the Order was a lie. She believed in its teaching likely just as deeply as Fiona had herself.

Odd that I never saw her or heard of her in the Order. A Vampire as old as her–a Wyvern no less–would have been someone I would have looked into her, if not spoken to her. Yet I’ve never heard of her in the future. And she hasn’t come to Nightvallen.

“Things are not as they seem,” Charlie said apologetically. “Rather like us. Except while our glamours aren’t hiding monsters underneath, I’m afraid your Order is. It’s being run by Kaly as a way to gain control over the Vampire World and obscure all the evil they did.”

Tanis just stared at him. It wasn’t that she disbelieved, Fiona thought, more than it was simply too much information to take in.

“We’ve dealt with most of the things that Kaly set into motion, but we were sent back in time doing so,” Grayson explained. “And we need to speak to Seeyr in order to figure out how to get back.”

“Seeyr?” Tanis laughed shrilly. “I can assure you that Seeyr is not here!”

“Yes, she is,” Fiona said. “She’s locked in the basement of the Spire.” And in that moment, even as her lips formed the next words, Fiona realized something else. She hadn’t heard of Tanis in the Order and maybe hadn’t seen her in Nightvallen for the simple reason that Tanis had been given her Second Death. And maybe that Second Death happened because of what Fiona said next, “And we need your help getting to her.”

Future Without You

“My help? If Seeyr is in the Spire’s dungeon it’s because she belongs there!” Tanis cried.

“For what crime exactly?” Grayson stared hard at Wyvern’s fledgling as his anger flared. He tamped it down. His emotions were all over the place. It was because he was newly turned. He knew that from his own experiences with his fledglings. But it was hard to have it inside of himself. “From my understanding, Seeyr never made War Children, never participated in the fighting except in defense, and urged peace.”

“If you’re Ashyr then you weren’t here when everything happened. So you can’t know that for certain!” Tanis exclaimed, tipping her chin up.

“Well, I was here,” Ryder said, “and I know what Grayson says to be true. Seeyr begged me to stop what I was doing many times. Many, many times. But I never did and she merely retreated to Solace to protect her people until all of you came in.”

“Seeyr suffered as her own children were killed, but she never struck out,” Charlie chimed in with much solemnity. “If Kaly has convinced you that she played some role in this War then they have slandered her most foul.”

“She’s innocent, Tanis,” Fiona said, clenching a hand up against her chest. “You know she is. Stop thinking about what you’ve been told by the people here. The Order is a cult. It is a method of mind control.”

“It’s establishing rules that we all have to abide by! It’s stopping any one person from being in charge until Daemon returns,” Tanis argued. “It’s the answer to the atrocities committed by the Immortals against us!”

Grayson let out a sharp laugh that had Khos looking up at him worriedly. “Kaly only wants to protect themselves from the other Immortals. And the last person Kaly wants to return is Daemon. They did everything they could to stop that from happening. They failed and were found out. Now we are still fighting the slices they cut their soul into. Some of which are your leaders here: Artemis Alucius. Roan Tithe. Names ring a bell?”

Tanis froze at those names and a faint shudder went through her. “You say that those two are Kaly slices?”

“I see you aren’t fond of them.” Ryder crossed his massive arms over his chest. “Wise. I just hope you can extend that wisdom to the rest of what we’re saying. All of this is just Kaly’s way of taking over the Vampire World. They are trying to escape Daemon’s punishment.”

Ironically, Daemon hasn’t had to punish Caemorn at all. He’s too busy doing it himself, Grayson thought. But that’s a fair description of what Kaly is doing. Unleashing all of this violence and then offering the alleged solution where they are in charge.

“Even before Daemon went to sleep, Kaly was experimenting in slicing themselves, taking over the bodies of other Bloodline Vampires and using their powers,” Charlie explained. “The slicing increased after Daemon left because they were lonelier than ever, but also because they had no one left who could stop them.”

Tanis held herself tightly as she stared off towards the wilds. “Even if Kaly is behind this, they are not the only one to be creating the Order. I have had a significant role in outlining the rules and history. I…”

Fiona put a hand to her forehead. “Oh, Tanis, that saddens me more than I can say. The Order’s alleged history is full of lies. None of what’s in there is true!”

The Order’s explanation of the War and all of Vampire history was past events reflected through a funhouse mirror. Grayson wondered how much Tanis had suffered that she would go along with creating such lies.

“It’s better than the truth. It’s the essence of what has happened and why we must change!” Tanis pleaded. “After the chaos we’ve gone through–”

“Coercive control is not the answer to chaos! Lies are never the answer to messy truths!” Fiona cried out. The words sounded ripped from her throat. “The damage the Order has done over the millennia is untold. I wish you had no role in it at all. But here you are telling me how proud you are of your role in it! That creating a fictional account of what happened during the War is fine because it teaches some easy morality lesson? No. Never.”

Grayson knew that at one time Fiona had been quite devout in the Order. Her regret about that could not be written larger on her face at that moment.

“The Order will cement Kaly’s rule for millennia. They are the one person who is responsible for all that happened and they get to reap the rewards of their evil and slander those who they harmed. Their deep unhappiness and instability did all of this.” Fiona shook her head violently at the injustice of it all. “We should have cared for them more. We should have seen their decline into madness. But we didn’t and that is a failure we will not forget. We are trying to fix that now in order to ensure that nothing like the War ever happens again.”

“The Order will ensure that!” Tanis objected.

“No, the Order merely keeps you all in a cage you cannot see. The future Kaly–Caemorn–would tell you that himself if he were here. There is no one who regrets what the Order did more than him,” Ryder said.